Killing of girl student triggers protest in Mardan

MARDAN: Dozens of students and staff of Working Folks Grammar School and College Takhtbhai on Friday staged a protest against the murder of a ninth class girl student of the same school.

A large number of male and girl students and staff of the college participated in the protest.

The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans seeking justice for Laiba, a student 9th class at the Working Folks Grammar School and College Takhtbhai. They gathered on the Mardan-Malakand road and blocked it for traffic for hours.

The protesters demanded the Chief Justice of Pakistan to bring the culprits to justice.

“We will continue protest till the arrest of the accused,” said Ashfaq Khan, principal of the school. It may be mentioned that unidentified accused on Thursday killed Laiba when she was going to the school along with her elder brother Ilyas Khan.

Govt accused of trying to ban tobacco cultivation: Anjuman-e-Kashtkaran provincial president Niamat Shah Roghani on Friday accused the government of trying to ban the cultivation of tobacco.

Speaking at a meeting of farmers here, he said the farmers cultivated opium in the past, but later the government banned its cultivation. He said the farmers later started cultivating tobacco.

Alam Sher Khan, Syed Abdul Shah Bacha, Ali Khan, Noor Rehman and others attended the meeting.

Roghani said that tobacco was the main cash crop of the province. He alleged government was trying to ban tobacco cultivation through non- government organisations. He said that it would render thousands of people jobless. Roghani added that the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had already suffered due to militancy and terrorism.